We get LOTS of 15,000 ton coal trains running through North Idaho all headed from Wyoming to the coal ports on the west coast (mainly Tacoma, I think). It really hurts to see all that US coal going to China.
Any “resurgence” comes too late for the small mine operators on my area of S.E. Ohio. Their mines are closed, the grounds have been “remediated”, the trucks and other heavy equipment lie rusting in boneyards, and the workers will never get their jobs back. Only bright spot from my perspective is that District 6 is now MAGA country, where it was once solid blue.
...that’s where nation wealth comes from, the conversion of natural resources into finished-goods. Selling our coal to China is a winner!
They are also running east through Kearney NE. I watch them on Virtual Rail Fan.